Families in Raploch are finding a new free, weekly music class is hitting the right note.
The ‘Little Noise’ project, delivered by Big Noise Raploch, is a play-oriented music session for kids up to the age of five to help them engage with music and develop early skills.
Classes on offer feature songs, nursery rhymes, instrument play, movement games, and live and recorded music.
The sessions, which are run out of the Raploch Community Campus, also support parents and carers the chance to meet others in the streets around them, while spending quality time with their loved ones.
Local mother Colleen Fisher is one of those for whom the sessions have been a major help – including allowing her to get back to work.
She comes to the sessions with seven-year-old son Andrew – with her older son Dean, who lives with autism, also taking part in the Big Noise classes for older kids.
Colleen said: “We tried the Little Noise classes with Dean, but he struggled with it, but Andrew absolutely loved it.
“Little Noise was something I wanted to religiously try with Andrew, because I wanted Andrew to have a lot of socialisation early on – talking and singing songs and stuff like that.
“The groups like Little Noise have expanded so much, and it’s amazing for everyone. I think it’s so beneficial to get everyone, even babies, involved in Big Noise. It’s like a big community.
“Being part of Little Noise from an early age has really helped my boys, especially Andrew who has been through speech therapy. It really brought his speech on.
“It’s helped me massively to know that I’ve got someone to speak to as well. I stopped working when Dean was diagnosed, just before he started school, so I was out of work for six or seven years.
“It was a really lonely time for me, and I was struggling to find things to do, but Little Noise gave me something to do and somewhere to be. It got me out the house with Andrew, and it got me talking to other
mums.
“It was just the absolutely highlight of my week.
“When Andrew started school I started applying for jobs and I wasn’t getting anywhere but I didn’t have much experience. I was ready to just give up, but I started volunteering with Little Noise and Inspiring Communities, and they brought my confidence up massively.
The Little Noise classes are open to those living and working in Raploch and run every Thursday from 9.30am in the community campus.
They encourage children to listen and copy sounds, enhance their physical development and coordination, and develop early social skills such as choosing, taking turns, and playing together.
Jo Ashcroft, Big Noise Raploch Head of Centre, said: “Little Noise is a wonderful way for under fives to discover the joy and magic of music with their parents or carers.
“Music has been shown to be a great way to help babies and toddlers with their motor skills as well as their cognitive abilities – and it is a lot of fun as well!
“We know that it can be lonely and sometimes challenging to manage at home with young children, so we love welcoming families along and seeing friendships and supports develop.”